CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved a final report and recommendations on restructuring the ELCA churchwide organization. It transmitted to the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly the report and recommendations for final consideration.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council met here Nov. 11-15. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando, Fla.
The plan was presented to the church by the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop. Between now and the assembly, ELCA leaders will consult with many people to develop possible budgets and staffing configurations, he said. After the assembly -- and assuming amendments to governing and policy documents are adopted -- the churchwide organization will enter the design's implementation phase, he said. That phase will include determining leadership for various churchwide units.
The proposal reorders the work of the churchwide organization into five program units: Church in Society; Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission; Global Mission; Multicultural Ministries; and Vocation and Education. Augsburg Fortress Publishers and Women of the ELCA remain as separately incorporated units.
The Office of the Presiding Bishop will retain its present functions and be responsible for ecumenical and interreligious relations; human resources; research and evaluation; synodical relations; and worship. The Office of the Treasurer will retain its present functions, including information technology and management services. The Office of the Secretary will retain its present roles.
There are four service units in the proposal: Communication, including a new relationship with The Lutheran, the magazine of the ELCA; Development Services, including the ELCA Foundation and the separately incorporated Endowment Fund; and the separately incorporated Mission Investment Fund and Board of Pensions, both of which retain their current roles.
An initial draft of the proposal was released Aug. 25. Review and comment on the draft was provided by many professional and lay leaders in the church, including members of churchwide boards and committees. Some of their comments led to changes that were incorporated in the proposal presented to and approved by the council:
+ The council's Planning and Evaluation Committee, working with the ELCA executive for administration, will be responsible for monitoring the churchwide organization's commitments and policies related to the plan. The original draft called for a staff person with these responsibilities to be housed in the Office of the Presiding Bishop.
+ The new Multicultural Ministries program unit will be responsible for education on racial justice. The first draft placed this responsibility in the Office of the Presiding Bishop.
+ The Church in Society program unit will house a director for "justice for women," who will "convene and guide a churchwide internal alliance related to this work," according to the plan. An advisory committee will give advice and counsel to the director. This position will assume the work of the present ELCA Commission for Women.
+ The Lutheran, the magazine of the ELCA, will maintain its editorial freedom but will be connected to the new Communication service unit for "administrative and budgetary oversight," according to the plan. The editor will be nominated by the publication's advisory committee and the presiding bishop "to a defined renewable term," the plan said.
During discussion, Richard L. Wahl, council member, Millersville, Md., asked Hanson if in the new structure he would have sufficient staff support. Hanson responded that his immediate staff may be smaller than the staffs maintained by many synod bishops. However, he said he considered the churchwide organization's executive directors to be part of the presiding bishop's staff.
Hanson also defended his proposal to designate Multicultural Ministries as a program unit. Presently, the ELCA Commission on Multicultural Ministries provides advice, counsel and services to ELCA congregations that wish to become more culturally diverse. "This church, in all of its manifestations in this [churchwide] organization needs to affirm our commitment to becoming a multicultural church," he told the council.
Already, the churchwide staff has begun working into the proposed structure, Hanson said. "The staff is not waiting for permission," he said.
Hanson thanked the Rev. Charles S. Miller, ELCA executive for administration, Office of the Presiding Bishop, for his leadership in developing the plan during the past two and one-half years. He also thanked the council's planning and evaluation committee, churchwide executive directors and staff.
---
The text of the council-approved churchwide structure plan is at http://www.elca.org/planning/ on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
- - -
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
